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7. CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

DANIELLA

While we waited for midnight to arrive, I stayed in my chamber—we didn’t want Cardian to know we’d discovered his magical mole—while the others tried to do damage control and got ready for a potential trip to Nerethien.

Jeondar, as the highest ranking of the five, met with the council members and dispatched several messages to his father at the Summer Court, as well as to the Spring, Fall, and Winter Courts. He reiterated previous messages from Kalyll, warning them about Mythorne and Cardian’s intentions of taking control of the minor courts. The messages also entreated them to be ready to defend their domain from hostile forces from the Unseelie King. Among other things, Jeondar also expedited things with the council members so that Kalyll’s uncle was placed in charge of any decisions while the king was absent.

In the meantime, the others gathered supplies that we might need during our search for Kalyll, including healing ingredients from a list I put together.

When I got tired of the silence, I gestured to Larina to follow me, and we went to Cylea’s chamber. No one else was there.

“That’s all I’m good for. Lists,” I complained to Larina, while I meandered through the room and walked into the closet.

I paused to look in the mirror. The Fae features Naesala Roka had forced on me remained in place and would for who knew how long.

“For now,” Larina said. “Once you become queen—“

I put a hand up to cut her off. “I don’t wanna think about it. That’s a whole other battle. I can’t even look like myself. I have to stay like this so I don’t raise eyebrows wherever I go. If we ever get through this—“

“When,” Larina put in. “Let’s be more optimistic.”

“When,” I repeated, inwardly thanking her. I had to stay positive or I’d go mad. “When we get through this, I’ll still have to deal with all of that… the court accepting me for who I am, figuring out how to be a queen to people I don’t understand, and who knows what else.”

“I think you will make a splendid queen.”

I smiled up at her as she hovered above my head. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. You will be there to help me, won’t you?”

Larina’s cheeks turned violet with embarrassment. “Of course, I will,” she said once she recovered.

“As my friend, as my confidant, right?”

Her cheeks grew brighter still. “It will be my honor.”

“And mine, you’re an amazing pixie. The best friend I could’ve asked for.”

She fluttered to my shoulder and hugged a strand of my hair. I wanted to hug her back, but she was so tiny I was afraid to crush her or damage her fragile wings.

“Will you come with us to Nerethien?” I asked. “I know it’s selfish of me to—“

“I will,” she blurted out without hesitation. She let go of my hair and fluttered back up. “I want to help as much as I can.”

“Thank you, Larina. I may be overstepping but…” I stood and straightened to my full height.

The pixie hovered right in front of my face.

“I declare you a member of The Sub Rosa,” I announced.

Larina blinked, looking taken aback. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, and when Kalyll is back, I will make sure he makes this official.”

Even though I didn’t know where I was going, I kept getting ahead of everyone, marching down the road with firm steps.

“Dani, this way,” Arabis said, pointing to the path leading to the left, which I’d just passed.

I backtracked and, undeterred, marched ahead again.

They had to keep calling me back to the correct zigzagging alley, but I couldn’t help myself. There was too much restless energy in my muscles to do anything else.

I was dimly aware of the beauty that surrounded us: the starlit sky, the moss-covered paths that felt like walking on lush carpets, the swinging bridges connecting tree-like homes and illuminated by fairy lights. Not once had I been able to walk the streets of Elyndell and enjoy its beauty. It seemed I was condemned to skulking around at night like a thief.

As we got closer, I recognized the way and hurried ahead with more confidence. This time, Arabis didn’t correct me when I took a sharp right and found myself in a narrow corridor. I stood in front of the thick tree trunk that acted as one of the flanking walls.

The others caught up with me. Only Larina and Jeondar had stayed behind, the former ensuring everything was ready for a swift departure, and the latter doing his best to leave a firm chain of command behind.

My stomach turned with nerves. We had agreed that Arabis would go in with me. I was terrified of entering by myself, and when she offered to accompany me, I immediately seized the opportunity. The others had only looked relieved that all they had to do was stand guard outside.

“What now?” I asked.

Arabis stopped next to me and whispered in my ear. “Say the following, anolen lathwen.”

I nodded, then repeated the words.

Anolen lathwen.”

The texture of the tree changed, growing transparent.

Arabis gestured encouragingly. My heart started hammering. Arming myself with all of Dark Dani’s courage, I stepped into the dark circular space. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees as the Envoy’s lair swallowed us. The same oil lamps as before rested inside small crevices in the walls and cast their dim, wavering light.

My hands tingled as a dark pool materialized on the floor. It shone like a puddle of oil, absorbing the light from the lamps. Circles rippled outward from the center, growing larger. The hair on my arms and neck stood on end. The ripples continued, and then the Envoy’s impossibly clean head rose slowly.

The atmosphere around us changed, and it became harder to draw breath. I didn’t know if the air had grown thicker or if my lungs were refusing to work properly.

When the Envoy’s head finished appearing in the center of the well, I clutched Arabis’s hand. For a moment, I was embarrassed until she squeezed back, needing my support as much as I needed hers.

The rest of the Envoy’s body surfaced and hovered, her bony feet inches from the pool. She was spotless—same as her white gossamer dress—despite the fact that she’d just climbed out of a foul pit.

As I stared at her face wrapped in all those pieces of fabric like a mummy’s, I remembered how her face changed every time she spoke, and the armor I’d donned earlier felt ready to slip off. Gritting my teeth, I held on to my courage. I was grateful to Arabis for being here with me and giving me the added strength to ask my first question.

“I would like to know if King Kalyll Adanorin is in Elf-hame,” I said.

My question echoed in the cavernous space.

—He suffers at the hands of his enemies, the Envoy’s androgynous voice answered. All-black eyes and a grotesque, rot-filled mouth flashed for an instant, then disappeared.

I tried not to think of those sharp teeth and how easily they could rip through our flesh if the demon decided to make a meal out of us, which wasn’t hard to do, not when her answer both tore me apart and gave me hope.

Kalyll was alive, but he was being tortured.

I shook my head, trying to focus on my relief only. They hadn’t killed him, and that was my selfish hope. I would see him again.

I inhaled, ready for the next question. “Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Nerethien?”

“No.” The Envoy’s mouth appeared and snapped the word through its teeth. Before it disappeared, it grinned with satisfaction.

Anger rose in me at the sight of the creature’s glee.

“Where is he then?” I demanded.

“Dani, no.” Arabis pulled my hand, trying to drag me toward the exit.

I freed my hand. “Where is he, you infuriating creature?”

In the blink of an eye, the Envoy swooped down from her hovering height, headed straight for me. My anger served as stupidity because as she came for me, I didn’t move. I stood my ground, holding my head high, even as her teeth snapped an inch from my nose.

“Give me more,” she hissed.

The scent of rot invaded my nostrils, pushing against me like a physical force. A forked tongue, three times as long as it should have been, snaked out, tasted the air, then proceeded to lick the upper lip from one corner to the other as if tasting something delicious.

And I supposed she was. It had just drained two days of my life, and she wanted more. That was why my failed question delighted her.

I opened my mouth, my head churning with insults, but also with possible questions that would guide me to Kalyll. He needed our help. He was being tortured, and I couldn’t allow that to go on. I had to do everything I could to save him.

But what question was the right one? They all crowded in my throat.

“Let’s go.” Arabis grabbed my arm, but I shook her off, staring at that faceless creature as it bore down on me.

Now that the Envoy was close, I heard her breaths. They were shallow and rattling, sounds I’d heard more times than I cared to admit. She breathed the way the dying breathed.

“Give me more,” she demanded in her eerie voice.

“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in the human realm?”

“No,” she answered, then cackled with delight, throwing her head back and licking her lips again, this time loudly as if she’d eaten her favorite meal.

Shit! Why had I asked that? I already knew he was in Elf-hame.

“We need to leave.” Arabis tried to pull me away, but I wouldn’t have it.

What was one more day shaved off my life? Maybe if I were still contemplating a human life, but Naesala Roka was going to help me live longer. I was going to live three hundred years instead of a third of that.

“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Elyndell?” I flung the question at the Envoy, a strange heat spreading inside my chest.

“No.” Another delighted cackle issued from her nasty mouth.

Maybe I was imagining things, but it looked as if the demon had gotten bigger. I swallowed thickly, my throat burning with bile.

“Dani, this is madness.” Arabis grabbed me by the elbow and shook me. “You have to stop. This can’t be good. You’ll die.”

No, I would not die. Once I started my training with Naesala, I would have tens of thousands of days at my disposal. A few wouldn’t make a difference—not after Kalyll and I had spent several lifetimes together.

“Let me be.” I shoved Arabis away.

She stumbled backward, her arms thrashing for balance.

“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Pharowyn?” I wiped a hand across my feverish forehead. I was sweating, and the small alcove seemed to be closing in on me.

“No.”

“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Imbermore?”

“No,” the Envoy answered, her voice an elated whisper that made me think of a Scroogelike person counting their coins and hoarding them close to their chest, afraid someone might steal a single one.

“Is King Kalyll Ad—“

“I’m sorry about this, Dani.” Arabis stepped in front of me, pulled her fist back, and decked me harder than her petite body had the right to.

The last thing I registered was falling backward, the question dying on my lips as the back of my head hit the stone floor, and I lost consciousness.

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